John Birch Society

American  

noun

1. an ultraconservative organization, founded in December 1958 by Robert Welch, Jr., chiefly to combat alleged Communist activities in the U.S.

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John Birch Society British  

noun

1. politics a fanatical right-wing association organized along semisecret lines to fight Communism

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John Birch Society Cultural  

1. A conservative organization prominent in the 1950s and 1960s. The society was particularly concerned with the dangers of communism, and its views were considered extreme by most Americans.

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Etymology

Origin of John Birch Society

C20: named after John Birch (killed by Chinese communists 1945), American USAF captain whom its members regarded as the first cold-war casualty

Example Sentences

The flag is studded with the names of people who have pushed those freedoms to the brink, from Harriet Tubman to the John Birch Society.

From Slate • Feb. 19, 2025

Matthew Dallek, a political historian at George Washington University, is the author, most recently, of “Birchers: How the John Birch Society Radicalized the American Right.”

From Salon • Oct. 14, 2024

Back when the Cold War loomed and TV was still mostly in black and white, the John Birch Society mattered.

From Seattle Times • Jan. 21, 2024

Most notably, he powered a 1961 editorial exposé revealing the skulduggery and character assassination employed by the John Birch Society, rabid anti-Communists who had risen to prominence in California.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 29, 2023

The stickers about the police and Earl Warren were gifts from Billy’s father-in-law, a member of the John Birch Society.

From "Slaughterhouse-Five" by Kurt Vonnegut